Republican candidate for District 30 House Richard Mounce is complaining about a “small and vocal group” that sends “outrageous, and anonymous, post cards at election time” to commit “hateful character assassinations.” Evidently someone with different horses in the five-person District 30 GOP primary is trying to drag down Mounce by accusing him of having (gasp!) Oregon values.
It’s funny that Mounce lodges this complaint on Dakota War College, whose commenters make outrageous, anonymous, and hateful attempts at character assassination. It’s funny that Mounce lodges this complaint from within the Republican Party, whose Presidential nominating process is dominated by character assassination and bigoted fear of “the other”.
It’s not funny that Mounce takes the same route as his post card opponents and denigrates “Oregon values”:
One rumor being spread is that Laura and I have “Oregon Values” because we moved to South Dakota from Oregon several years ago. In fact, Laura is a 4thgeneration South Dakotan and absolutely steadfast in her support of my candidacy. We chose to leave Oregon and move to South Dakota, in part, because Christians and Conservatives in Portland are an endangered species.
The Oregon values I learned as a child are love of God, patriotism, service to the community, honesty and the value of hard work. While things may have changed in Oregon, in South Dakota these values are still the bedrock of life and are values Laura and I share and live daily [Richard Mounce, press release, reprinted on Dakota War College, 2016.04.21].
Oregon, like New York, is another state of the Union, filled with patriotic, hard-working Americans. To suggest that the values of another state are inferior to our own is a curious and unhelpful South Dakota brand of intranational xenophobia. It’s bad enough I’m combatting yahoos who think foreigners are bad for South Dakota. Now I’ve got to wrestle with candidates who fall into portraying fellow Americans as threats to public morality. How many people do we have to villainize and scapegoat to feel good about ourselves?
By the way, folks in Oregon have done studies to determine popularly held “Oregon Values.” The most recent decennial surveys, conducted in April and May, 2013, found the following values topping Oregonian sensibilities:
- Education comes first (especially K-12): “[Oregonians] also want more parent involvement in children’s education, and graduates who know more about money management and have better learned the lessons of citizenship, work, and family.”
- Wellness and personal responsibility are primary healthcare values: “…72% find it desirable that People are held accountable for high risk behaviors like smoking, drugs, and lack of exercise through higher insurance premiums.”
- Environmental quality and protection are important: “They also value a good economy, but they want an approach to economic development that recognizes the importance of the state’s natural environment to its quality of life.”
- Public transportation instead of new roads: “A majority of Oregonians support investment in public transit and consider such investment more important than investing in roads for cars.“
- Natural resource protections: “The third most valued service from a list of twenty public service priorities requiring tax allocations, protection of clean air and water, was judged important by 74%, just below K-12 education services and public safety like fire and police protection.”
The study lists ten other key value findings, including concerns about overuse of prison instead of rehabilitation, wasteful government spending, climate change, child nutrition and healthcare, and excessive government intervention in economic development. One could believe in far worse things.
Oregonians do go to church less than South Dakotans… but are we really doing a better job at loving our neighbors?
Mounce calls for collective action (hey, postcarders! Collective, collectivism… that’s code for more evil, outside communism!) to be nicer toward our neighbors:
Together, collectively lets say “NO” to the fear, lies and negativity. Let’s say “YES” to optimism, integrity and improving our state. Saying “Yes” will help our young families build a brighter future here [Mounce, 2016.04.21].
Say no to fear, lies, and negativity—boy, Richard, you really did pick the wrong party, didn’t you?
Mounce is right about optimism and integrity as keys to improving our state. Holding our American values with integrity, believing we can overcome difficulty and difference, inviting all people to share in the wealth and opportunity of South Dakota is the surest way to building a bright future here. But slipping into xenophobia, even against fellow Americans, saying that folks with “Oregon values” or “New York values” are not welcome, is the surest way to make lots of smart, young, talented people—including lots of our own kids in Rapid City, Aberdeen, Yankton—turn their backs on South Dakota and leave us to stagnate in our bigotry.
Meanwhile I hear that the South Dakota Democratic Party had the audacity four years ago to nominate a candidate for US Congress who actually got an advanced degree from a university in England. Thank God we elected a college dropout instead.
Right! Things haven’t changed in SD. As a matter of fact, if we could just go BACKWARDS a few decades, things would be even better! Cummon, Richard, try to keep up!
Those darn political postcards! Who’s responsible for these “outrageous and hateful character assassinations”? Hmmmm? Guess who, Candidate Mounce. It’s your advocate. Imagine that.
(local ad) ~ Pat Powers and the Dakota Campaign Store has been one of the largest providers of political postcards for Republican and non-partisan candidates in South Dakota for the past two election cycles. Why? Because we do them better than anyone else.
We’re loud and proud in our postcard marketing, helping candidates to stand out in the mailbox. Our 6×11 postcards are a perennial favorite, and the high gloss finish helps protect the card through the rigors of mail delivery.
Mr. Mounce sounds a good deal like Mr. Trump.
in part, because Christians and Conservatives in Portland are an endangered species.
Someone remind Mr. Mounce which political party loathes the “endangered species” act.
backstory … ~ Pat Powers gloated, upon hearing of Mr. Heidelberger’s District 4 Senate campaign that it would only take one negative postcard from him to pay for Mr. Powers next trip to Florida … proof of where these postcards originate.
Is this guy saying their are rednecks in PortlAND.
So Mounce admits he had Oregon values when he lived in Oregon. I knew it!
dude oregon is cool! all states shud be like portlund! argos was a movie rite?
Bingo, Porter. Watch Pat’s celebration and slobbering reposting of those hit cards from his pals’ and fellow bailbondsmen’s PACs against candidates toward whom he feels no need to model the optimism, integrity, and focus on practical solutions that Mounce says he wants.
(Psst: It’s District 3. ;-) District 4 is our friend Kathy Tyler.)
True South Dakota values are pretty damn scary as you can tell from reading blog comments.
Blog commenters proudly demonstrate their values of hate, prejudice, and discrimination on a regular, if not daily basis.
People are flocking to Oregon. http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/04/real_estate/oregon-most-popular-moving-states-2015/
Speaking of District 4 – I imagine Kathy Tyler (South Dakota’s version of Elizabeth Warren) will be seeing some of Mr. Powers’ petty and pestiferous postcards. If I were her, I’d have them matted and framed to be a constant reminder of why I’m running for office.
“Blog commenters proudly demonstrate their values of hate, prejudice, and discrimination on a regular, if not daily basis.”
So when are you going to stop it Roger?
I haven’t heard anything from Roger that shows hate, prejudice or discrimination Steve.
You’re the only one I’ve seen that from. But we’re used to it.
I fear I have seen more negative and derogatory comments against South Dakotans from this blog over the past 2 months than I have seen in my entire long life. There is a word for that. Hypocriticalists.
I would ask you the same question Sibson, when are you going to stop it?
But we all know you have fallen into your own hell created by yourself.
I think somebody needs to ask Mr. Sibby the sane question every day but his answers are unlikely to change.
Also in District 30 is a fellow named Mr. Goodwin. He seems to have a lot of money but I do not know for what he stands. He has bill signs all over the place. Big colored ones on the interstates and the byroads alike. I wish his signs said what he wants to do but I bet you there are big sugars behind all of that campaigning. He might be bad or he might be good, but he has money backing him. Big money.
I would gladly trade a Syrian refugee family for this bunch of losers. Oregon must have given them the boot for some kind of infraction. So it is Oregon’s gain and our loss once again.
I have lived in various states and they all seem to have the belief that they are the one with good values and good work ethic. Yawn.
I think Mounce left a good thing behind. Then he runs to represent a party that doesn’t seem to represent his values and is surprised! Didn’t he research what South Dakota Republicans support and stand for?
More confused disingenuous double speak from somebody that is more interested in controlling the citizenry than governing. Way back when, many republican’s made some sense in their campaign rhetoric…. Today, fewer of them are rational and cogent in their speech and expect us to swallow the snake oil without holding our nose. This guy sounds just like Phil Jensen and a few others that want to use the power of government to their denominational morality on everyone else……… When somebody descends that far into the depths of religious dispair, it should be more than obvious that government isn’t the problem………. The last thing we need in our state legislature is another Phil Jensen clone.
clcjm and John make me wonder if Mounce didn’t realize just how deep he had to get into South Dakota Republicanism. His own party’s xenophobia extends to folks from other states.
Isn’t it ironic, in a Dakota sense, that Mr. Mounce finds it despicable that misleading, hateful and nearly illegally slanderous postcards are sent out to voters and he posts his complaint on the sight where the postcards are sent from, anonymously of course (wink wink). Even more ironic is that Pat Powers was out of town when the complaint was posted. Something smells in Brookings, ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. Lansing, I think that Mr. PP has a site that sells cards and probably anybody can buy them from him. I think he sells and mails cards to anybody who will pay him and he makes a dandy living from it. Healthy money in that, I hear.
… and I think he’s involved with a PAC that sends out character assaulting postcards.
Hmmm, perhaps you are right on that, sir. Are you thinking about that bail bond fellow from Iowa? I heard something about that once.
And then, Porter, Powers follows Mounce’s guest spot with a puff piece on how wonderful campaign post cards are, how effective they are, and how he sells them. Shameless, indeed.
Arrogance like that can backfire. Maybe someone can help it happen.